Hundred Reasons - We Didn't Mean to Do It

Despite what’s been said in some circles, the "covers EP" does not signify either self-doubt or self-indulgence on the part of Hundred Reasons. “We really didn’t mean to do it,” says Andy. “We contributed to the Smiths tribute album because they are an act we really respect and we were pleased to be asked. Then about a month later the label came to us and said we want to release [your track] as a single, can you record some b-sides? So were a bit thrown really; we hadn’t expected it. I think the result is very tongue-in-cheek.”

Whatever it was it certainly wasn’t a sign of them running out of ideas. “We’ve just spent the past 2 months since coming off the Festival circuit in a studio in Putney recording new stuff; we’ve got 14 songs we are really happy with.” They will be playing 4 new songs, in rotation, on each night of their 19 date UK tour with Reuben, Twofold and Dave House. “We’re really happy to be touring with them, Reuben in particular – we’ve been friends with them for ages and have been wanting to tour together for a while.” Parting company with Sony over the summer certainly hasn’t left them down in the dumps. “Yeah, we were a bit down in the mouth for a bit, and understandably so, particularly when we stopped gigging at the end of June. But now we’ve got the new stuff we are much happier; haven’t got a clue what Colin’s lyrics are about but I think they are upbeat!” So the covers EP definitely wasn’t a product of damaged confidence after becoming effectively an unsigned band? “No.” Well that’s that clearly up then…

They’ve still got an agent and a manager, and more importantly they still have a lot of fun doing what they do – after 5 years together (though actually they’ve all known each other for long) the creative juices are still flowing. “We’re all multi-instrumentalists – pretty much all of us can keep a beat, play the piano a bit, strum a guitar, come up with a vocal melody. So while Colin is always the one to come up with the lyrics, we all get involved in writing the tunes. I mean just the other day Andy and I [the other Andy!] were jamming away on a couple of acoustics, Paul comes in a gets on the kit and then Larry picks up the bass – basically we were all playing each other’s instruments. It ended up sounding a bit like Gomez!” Ever thought of incorporating instrument juggling into the live show? “Nah, we aren’t tight enough in a different set up.”

The new stuff that has come out of these jam sessions is much faster and hookier than the second album “Shatterproof is not a challenge” and sees a return to something approaching the sound of the first album. “We never aim for any specific when we are writing – we’ve basically been making self-produced demos over the past three months – we’ve still no idea who would put out the 3rd album. So there has been no producer to push us in any one direction, no A&R to keep happy; we’ve been writing for ourselves. This is our job so we’ve been taking it seriously but at the same time we’ve been having fun, and so the songs we’ve produced have come from that.”